Today I watched episodes 14 to 16 of Psycho-Pass Season 1, and they were incredibly exciting from start to finish. The pace was relentless and the revelations came one after another, finally shedding light on many hints the anime had been building up since the beginning.

Makishima Shougo begins distributing a special helmet that allows criminals to commit violent acts without their Crime Coefficient being detected by the Sybil System. This triggers widespread chaos, and the city’s security forces are completely overwhelmed. Their entire system is designed around Sybil, so once it fails, they have no idea how to react to a good old-fashioned riot.

One of the most chilling scenes is watching civilians stand motionless while a murder happens right in front of them. They do not run, they do not intervene and they barely even process what they are witnessing. It is a situation so outside their expectations that they are mentally unable to understand it. To them, crime happening openly is an impossibility.

Only a handful of older people, such as Tomomi Masaoka, remember how society functioned before Sybil took control of the entire justice system. For those born into it, the Sybil System is simply reality and the idea of a world without automated crime detection is unimaginable.

The riots serve as a perfect distraction, weakening security at the Public Safety Bureau and reducing the number of working robots inside the building to the bare minimum. This allows Makishima and the hacker assisting him to infiltrate the restricted area where the core of the Sybil System is located. The only one sharp enough to figure out what is happening is Kougami, and he immediately goes after Makishima with Akane following him.

The confrontation between Makishima and Kougami is excellent and gives a sense of temporary closure to their conflict. Akane refusing to kill Makishima was a strong character moment, and I am sure it will matter a lot later if my suspicions are correct.

The ending reveals the true nature of the Bureau Chief, Joshu Kasei, whom I already suspected in my previous impressions. When she is shot by the hacker, it is revealed that she is not human at all. She is a fully mechanical body with the authority to override Dominator settings from paralyze to lethal force.

We do not see exactly what the hacker and Shuusei Kagari witnessed before being killed by Kasei, but based on the clues so far, my theory is this:
The Sybil System is powered by people like Makishima, individuals who cannot be scanned or judged by it. This would explain why Kasei was so obsessed with capturing him alive instead of eliminating him as a threat.

I am extremely curious to see how the next episodes develop this revelation. The story just keeps getting darker and more fascinating.